Is lying allowed by the Watchtower to protect the organisation?

Answer 1

Jehovah's Witnesses are taught that lying is wrong. The examples below are not lying. In those examples the person is not stating things that are not true; rather, they simply do not tell other people things those other people have no business knowing.

For example, when my children were very young we always made it a point for their mother or I to be there with them. After they started school, we always tried to beat the school bus home.

BUT we told them if an emergency came up, and there was no way we could be home when they got there, if someone called and wanted to talk to us, do not tell them we were not home. We said to tell them we could not come to the phone right now, that we wanted the children to take a message and we would return the call ASAP. THAT was not lying, but it was protecting the children from possible danger by refusing to yield information that could result in their harm.

We never told the children to say: "They are in the bathroom" or "They are outside working" or anything like that. THAT would have been a lie.

Likewise Jehovah's Witnesses do not divulge information that others have no right to know, especially if doing so would result in harm to our brothers or sisters or our own self.

Answer:Qualified to be ministers : 1957 edit. p. 197

The Society actually teaches Jehovah's Witnesses to cover-up or lie about certain facts. They call this tactic -- Theocratic War Strategy. The Watchtower instructs Jehovah's Witnesses that, "As a soldier of Christ he is in theocratic warfare and he must exercise added caution when dealing with God's foes. Thus the Scriptures show that for the purpose of protecting the interest of God's cause, it is proper to hide the truth from God's enemies." Watchtower 1 June 1960 p. 352

Abraham asks Sarah to lie for him. Gen.12:13 and 20:2 (And Isaac does the same with Rebekah in Gen.26:7)

The governing body uses these little fibs as examples for JWs. Lying is OK if the lying is directed towards "now worshipers of Jehovah" (Insight on the Scriptures, p.245). This is called the Theocratic War Strategy.

Read also (Watchtower 1951 1 may p. 285 and 286).

AnswerExample from the Bible: Genesis 12:13 - "Please say you are my sister, in order that it may go well with me on your account, and my soul will be certain to live due to you."

Genesis 20:2 - "And Abraham repeated concerning Sarah his wife: 'She is my sister.'"

In these two examples Abraham did not lie; Sarah really was his sister. Please note Genesis 20:12 - "And, besides, she is truly my sister, the daughter of my father, only not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife."

A modern example was a Witness of Jehovah who was going from house to house in Eastern Germany when she met a violent opposer. Knowing at once what to expect she changed her red blouse for a green one in the very next hallway. No sooner had she appeared on the street than a Communist officer asked her if she had seen a woman with a red blouse. No, she replied, and went on her way. Did she tell a lie? No, she did not. She was not a liar. Rather, she was using theocratic war strategy, hiding the truth by action and word for the sake of the ministry. Truthfully she had not SEEN a woman in a red blouse, since she herself was that woman.